Destined to be Yours

Chapter 43: Battle City Announcement

"Akia-chan! I missed you too!" Mai replied with an equally squeaky voice.

They both kept squealing while hugging each other. Anzu, Yugi, and Bakura just had an exasperated expression on their face as they witnessed the scene. Mai then looked at everyone else who was there and seemed to get it. She then poked Akia's cheek and smiled teasingly. "Are you on a double date, by any chance?"

"N-No! I'm not! Anzu was on a date with Yugi, though," Akia quickly deflected.

"I-It's not a date!" Anzu exclaimed with blushing cheeks.

"It's a double date! I knew it!" Mai reaffirmed.

Bakura was speechless at the sudden claim.

The pharaoh downright ignored it. "Anyway, Mai. What are you doing here?"

Mai looked surprised at Yugi's question. "Huh? Why? You're here and you don't even know?"

"Someone told me I could find my future here," the Spirit of the Puzzle replied.

"The future, huh? Could be true. A few days ago, some news got out on the internet. 'Go to where the ancient Duelists and their card engravings rest.' Some kind of message," the blonde woman informed them.

"Ancient Duelists and their engravings?!" Yugi exclaimed.

"That's...!" Akia realized as well what that meant.

The siblings were thinking of the same thing: the stone tablets.

"The date is today, the time is right now. They're supposed to announce a huge duel tournament here. Yugi, you must have sensed it by now," Mai pointed out.

"I can feel the hostility of duelists in the air," the pharaoh agreed.

"Really? I'm not feeling it," Akia expressed.

Mai and Yugi look at Akia and sighed.

"That's because you're naturally clueless," Mai teased.

"Yet, somehow, you're the Queen of Games," the other Yugi chuckled.

"Hey! Don't make fun of me!"

"Don't worry, Akia-chan. It's part of your charm," Bakura smiled at her.

"Don't agree with them!" Akia called him out, making everyone giggle at her reaction.

They all then started looking around, recognizing some of the duelists in the area.

Anzu gasped, "that's Insector Haga and Dinosaur Ryuuzaki!"

"Yes," Mai nodded, "and that over there is the duelist with 'special abilities', Esper Roba."

"Kajiki Ryota-kun is here too!" Anzu added.

"Who?" Akia asked.

"It's one of the duelists that I fought back in duelist kingdom," the nameless pharaoh replied.

"Oh! Is it the one who used the water deck that you told me about?" The red-eyed girl specified.

The other Yugi nodded. "They're all here for the tournament, then."

Anzu then looked up. "Yugi! That's...!"

"Kaiba!" The Spirit of the Puzzle exclaimed.

Akia looked up as well and, on the huge display screen, Kaiba's face was there. "Ugh, it's the rich douchebag..."

"Rumour has it that he's the one who spread the information to come here," Mai explained.

"Fellow Duelists, listen carefully! In one week, in this very town, Kaiba Corporation will host a Duel Monsters tournament!" Kaiba declared. The crowd started cheering at the announcement. "Duelists must meet two prerequisites. They must have a deck of forty cards, including one rare card. Also..." The screen then switched to Kaiba's wrist, which had a strange device attached to it. "They must have in possession this new Duel Disk!"

Akia's eyes lit up at the new device. "I'm starting to get pumped for this!"

"Duels will be played by Battle City rules. And there's an ante rule. The loser must give the rarest card in his deck to the winner," Kaiba continued his explanation.

"Rare card ante?" The pharaoh repeated in question.

"In other words, the final champion will acquire the rarest cards of all those he battled," the rich teen precised.

Akia grinned at the rule. "My deck will be so good if I win this tournament!"

A loud sound of spinning blades got closer above the contestants, sending a gust of wind their way. Everyone looked up to see Kaiba hanging from his helicopter door, looking as confident and as arrogant as always. He then raised his arm, pointing at the sky. "The stage of the battle will be all of Domino City! In one week, this town will become Battle City!"

Akia was so excited that she couldn't wait for the tournament to start. "We gotta get our Duel Disk thingies and register for this tournament as soon as possible! Alright, Yugi?"

"...Yeah." The other Yugi still couldn't get used to Akia's high levels of energy, but he still tried to manage.

Marik, having heard the whole announcement from two of his pawns, grinned. "Battle City, huh?"

"Yes, Master Marik. Duelists from all over the country have gathered in Domino City," one of the cloaked men relayed the information.

"When all of your prey have gathered in one place, it's very convenient. How interesting. Gather the Rare Hunters of the Ghouls from around the world."

"Yes!"

"Our next target is Domino City!" When he was left alone after giving out his orders, Marik clenched his hand around his Millennium Rod. Something was nagging him. Ever since he heard the name Akia, he hadn't stopped thinking about it. Was she also going to participate in the tournament? He didn't even remember what she looked like. He doubted he'd even recognize her if he saw her. This was all a very strange thing. He didn't know why he cared so much. Granted, earlier in his life, all he could think about was meeting her again, but that all changed. Or so he thought...